A first responder on the front lines remembers 9/11

WINDSOR LOCKS – As we recognize the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, there is a first responder sharing his story from the front lines.

Bill Csontos, who is now the TSA’s federal security director for Connecticut was a state trooper first class in 2001, when his K9 team was dispatched to ground zero soon after the terrorists struck.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” Csontos said from the security checkpoint at Bradley International Airport where he oversees operations. “It was almost like walking onto a movie set,” Csontos added, “disbelief that it was real.”

From his experiences working in the rubble of the World Trade Center, Csontos was motivated to join the Transportation Security Administration, where he spent seven years in Washington and has been serving the TSA in Connecticut for the past five years.

He says the safety protocols across the country have been greatly enhanced since the days of before the 9/11 attacks. “It’s completely different,” Csontos said, “checkpoints are different, the technology is different, and the way the officers get trained is completely different.”